uke

The best cost/mile ratio for a new bike I've seen was CigTech's Denali, which cost him ~$159 from WalMart. Before selling it, he had at least 14,200 miles on it (as of 12/08), which worked out to 1.1c/mile.

How much have your commuter bikes cost per mile? For simplicity, include only the cost of the bike itself (no accessories, no repairs). If your bike was free, that's great. You can still give your mileage.

OK, I'll start. Bike name, purchase price, miles traveled, and cost/mile (divide cost by miles).

Forge CTS 1000 - $395, 540 miles, 73c/mile.
Jamis Coda - $560, 667 miles, 84c/mile.
Murray Milestone - $20, 8.5 miles, $2.35/mile.

nahh

Scott SUB 30, with a lot of changes: $500, 971 miles, 51c/mile.

pityr

Trek 1200 - $799, 8K miles, $.10/mile and decreasing everyday


Except today when I just upgraded the cranks and brakes.

bragi

LHT, $1200.00 including fenders and rack, 3640 mi, so that's about 33 cents a mile.

Before the LHT, I had an old used mountain bike I bought for $75. I rode that bike for four years, and a distance of about 9000 mi, which works out to about 0.8 cents a mile, not including upgrades and repairs.

crhilton

Surly Cross check $1,200 / 2,500 miles = $.48
Trek 1500 $1,200 / 2,900 miles = $.41
Custom Fixed Gear $1,400 (yea, I'm insane) / 270 miles = $5.19

I'm not sure what the purpose of this is. All three bikes should cost around $.08 per mile assuming I put dozens of thousands of miles on them.

prathmann

Is this just commute miles or all miles? I quit adding commute miles a few years ago upon retirement, so the following is all-purpose miles.

Cannondale SR800, $400 (used), a little over 80 kmiles, 0.5 cents/mile
Specialized Sequoia, $0 (used), about 5500 miles, 0 cents/mile

dynodonn 

All my bikes amount to : priceless/smiles

Mad Scientist

Marin Muirwoods - $400 / 7827 miles = $0.05 / mile

This seems like a much better deal than it does when I include repairs and upgrades (including those, I'm at $0.16 per mile).

DataJunkie

Who cares.

Buy an expensive commuter and ride it 60 miles to and from work. Your costs will be lower.

uke

Some nice numbers here! prathmann, all miles are fine. Very impressive on that Cannondale. You too with the Marin, Mad Scientist.

cooleric1234

I like the concept, but are you including all the costs of the bike? Upgrading parts, accessories, etc.? I know I don't make any money commuting, mostly because I enjoy cycling so much that I'm constantly buying something new. Although, it is money I'd be spending anyway, more than likely. So it's open to interpretation.

uke

...

crhilton

Wow, 80 thousand miles. That's awesome.

buzzman

I have a dedicated commuter bike, which has about 40,000 miles on it since I bought it 8 years ago. I've bought a couple of wheels for it, some accessories, tires, tubes, chains, cassettes and do all my own maintenance. The bike originally cost me about $350 new. I've spent maybe $800-900 on it over the 8 years.

about .03¢/mile

My commute costs are low per mile because I buy quality equipment at as low an initial price as possible, maintain it myself and ride it a minimum of 100 miles/week consistently.

Given all that, commuting by bike is a priceless experience and not worth counting pennies about in an obsessive way unless it makes you feel even better about riding your bike.

tadawdy

way less per mile (or use) than any car or public transport
$200 for 80's Raleigh Technium (plus occasional maintenance, labor done by me) vs. monthly insurance, annual registration, gas, oil changes, repairs I can't do myself (and get charged out the rear for).

disco99

$2 for a used Schwinn World Tourist, plus the cost of the WD-40 /800 miles so far = less than a quarter of a cent per mile. I love old steel.
No need to replace any components yet, just regular lube up and tightening.
I did swap the seat, tires and tubes with my older bike that got run over, and the handlebars with a mountain bike frame that I had lying around. Other than that, all original.

IbikezLA

I'm building a beater/commuter fixie which should come out to about $200. By the end of my summer semester I should have 1,200 miles on it because I'll be getting at least 100 miles/week. So it'll be around $.20/mile. Maybe I'll do some serious riding on it because it is going to be fairly nice just without good paint and two different brake levers.